Michael Vaughan, now that the elbow he injured in the England nets has been steadied by pain-killing injections, needs Edgbaston to be his Agincourt, El Alamein and Rorke's Drift all rolled into one as the second Test gets under way today. If not, and Ricky Ponting's side leave for Manchester 2-0 up, the Ashes will not be a trophy so much as a monument to Australian supremacy.

As Edgbaston is England's most successful Test match venue, the chances of a reversal against Australia are higher there. Since the ground staged its first Test in 1902, England have won exactly half of the 40 Tests they have played there, though 12 of those victories have come when it has been the opening Test of the series, a time when opponents tend to be acclimatising.

''There's a lot of good memories at Edgbaston for us," Vaughan said yesterday, perhaps recalling his side's victory against Australia there last September in the ICC Trophy. "The crowd are always good here and there is just a general feel-good factor about the place."

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Many of those currently pinned down under Australian microscopes also have fine records at the venue. Marcus Trescothick averages 45 in Tests overall, but at Edgbaston that climbs to an incredible 89, a mere 10 runs below Sir Donald Bradman's untouchable career average of 99.94.

Andrew Flintoff, too, has good cause to feel comfortable at Edgbaston after making his highest Test score of 167 against the West Indies last year. His batting has gone AWOL for England of late, though a return to that kind of form would certainly boost his team's chances. After all, it was lack of runs that scuppered England at Lord's, not lack of firepower with the ball.

The release of Paul Collingwood yesterday lunchtime, to play for Durham in their championship match against Essex, suggests that Vaughan and coach Duncan Fletcher feel the pitch does not hold enough demons to warrant an extra batsman.

Two days of sun have baked a crust Fanny Craddock would have been proud of and Ashley Giles might yet get some decent conditions on which to answer his critics and end the summer whine he has served up since Lord's. With Ian Bell also set for a Test on his home ground, it will be the first time that two Warwickshire players have played there for England since Bob Willis and Andy Lloyd took on the West Indies in 1984, a Test that was to be Lloyd's last after being felled by a Malcolm Marshall bouncer.

Opinion is divided over how the pitch will play. Steve Rouse, the groundsman, reckons the ball could dent the surface early on in the game, something that tends to cause uneven bounce - conditions tall pace bowlers tend to feast on - as the game progresses. Yet, some of Australia's players reckon that the moisture left by last week's rain will rise as the match goes on, providing ideal conditions for seam bowlers who pitch the ball up, like Matthew Hoggard and Simon Jones, Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie. The correct reading could prove crucial.

Presuming Chris Tremlett does not get the nod this morning, England will field an unchanged side for the second Test in a row. Though not unusual, given the successes of the last 18 months, it has never happened before in a home series, at least not after England have lost the first Test.

Tremlett came closest to upsetting the status quo when he struck Vaughan on the elbow in Tuesday's net practice. Apart from the pain, it was an uncomfortable moment for England's captain, who initially presumed the worst.

''When I couldn't feel my arm I thought that it was a break,'' Vaughan said. "I felt a lot of emotions at that point. But once the scan showed there was no break, only a trapped nerve, I knew I'd be fine because you can ease nerve pain with an injection."

Before yesterday's confirmation of his fitness, Vaughan had batted in the nets without problems, though there was an uncomfortable moment when Steve Harmison struck him a nasty blow on his right index finger. It was a brute of a ball, climbing abruptly from short of a length, and one that would have consigned Nasser Hussain, a man with fragile fingers, to six weeks in plaster.

You cannot relax for long against Australia and no sooner had Vaughan announced his good news than Ponting revealed Australia's plans for England's captain on the hop. "It's up to the bowlers to put pressure on him, while he's not scoring as freely as he likes," Ponting said, clearly disregarding Vaughan's century for Yorkshire last Sunday. This aggressive stance was somewhat diluted by the sight of Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer meditating on the pitch later on. Visualisation can be a powerful tool in sports psychology, though the sight of Hayden, sitting with shoes off and bat in mouth gazing off into the middle distance, should encourage England's bowlers come the hour.

You cannot imagine Kevin Pietersen opting for such a Zen-like approach, which may be why Australia spent most of their team meeting discussing him. Pietersen's bold batting and armour-plated belief in self have won him much admiration as well as a summer contract, the latter announced yesterday by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Now he is being taken seriously by Australia, the proper challenge begins, though there has been nothing to suggest he cannot cope. The heightened attention should stimulate him even more, a situation that can only benefit England as they try to level the series.